Oh. my. goodness.

Three things to tbe thankful for today. Here we go:

1. Yesterday Ethan ate ham for dinner. A lot. And today, he ate half of a chicken enchilada.

Oh. my. goodness.

The kid who never eats meat has just eaten a ton of it in the last 24 hours. Which makes me wonder two things:

a-what his diapers are going to be like tomorrow; and

b-if maybe this sudden boost in protein intake has something to do with his sudden increase in furniture climbing (see exibit A). One can only wonder.

Exhibit A

2. I just spent two hours trying to get the girls to go to bed.


Oh. my. goodness.


You may be wondering why this is something to be grateful for. I will tell you. Andrea had a check-up today and got 3 shots and some blood drawn. Consequently, her arms have been in a lot of pain. And so when it was time for bed, the flood gates opened and the tears came uncontrollably. After an hour of making trips up and down the stairs, I finally decided the best thing to do was to stay in their room for a while until everyone calmed down.


I sat down on the floor between their beds. We sang Primary songs, Peter Paul and Mary, the Beatles, even a little Elvis. And then they started asking questions about Jesus and Heavenly Father. When will we get to see Them again? Where do they live? What do they look like? And then we had a sweet conversation that basically covered the Plan of Salvation. It's not very often that I have their undivided attention for more than 30 seconds, so I was thrilled to have this chance to teach them a little about the Gospel, and most importantly, how much Heavenly Father and the Savior love them.



3. Today is my Andrea's 5th birthday. The poor thing has the worst mother ever - I scheduled her check-up for today, without thinking that there are probably better ways to spend a birthday than getting poked and prodded and stuck with 4 needles.



But it wasn't all bad. She went to lunch with Dad; she got to watch a movie during quiet time; she requested and received chicken enchiladas and "zucchini without salt" for dinner; and there were a few presents to open and candles to blow out. She was so funny because every present she opened got this response:


"Oh. my. goodness."


She never ceases to amaze me. From the day she was born, she has been very observant and eager to take in everything around her. Nothing escapes her notice. I remember that during her first several hours of life, she was so quiet and still, but so alert! She had such an intense gaze; she was such a beautiful baby- and so tiny (she weighed 5 1/2 pounds when we took her home). Andrea, I love you! You bring so much joy to our family!

Multi-tasking: Eating cake while talking to Auntie Melinda on the phone